She was guest recently on WFMD.
Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater
Frederick, Md (KM) Despite their strong differences about the 287g program, both Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater and Sheriff Chuck Jenkins are very cordial when they meet face to face. That’s according to County Executive Fitzwater who was a guest recently on WFMD’s “Morning News Express.”
“So when we do sit down talk. whether it is about a local issue, whether it is about something happening at the state level, it is always productive. It’s always civil. It is,” she says.
The County Executive’s 2026 Legislative Package contains a position statement requesting the General Assembly ban the use of local “immigration enforcement agreements” such as 287g. She says this program has led to racial profiling and discrimination. Fitzwater says it can intimidate residents to the point where they are reluctant to call the police when they are victims of crime.
In response, Sheriff Jenkins says 287g has kept the county’s; crime rate low, and has placed certain “arrested criminals” into the custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Under 287g, staff at the Detention Center can determine the immigration status of individuals who are brought in on charges. If hey are here illegally, they’re turned over to ICE.
On another topic, the County Executive said data centers are the most regulated businesses in Frederick County. She said these facilities, which store data people save in their laptops or cell phones, have been smaller, and put in one location, the former Eastalcoa site in Adamstown.
Fitzwater said Frederick County is doing it the right way so that these facilities don’t hurt the local quality of life. “But beyond, we’re talking about where can data centers go. Without the overlay that’s being worked on right now, they’re allowable in all of our industrial zones which is close to 5,000 acres of land where data centers could go along with many other industrial uses,” she said.
The County Executive say the goal is avoid the problems other jurisdictions have had with data centers. “By making sure we’re putting them where there’s already infrastructure and where there’s already development happening on the Eastalco site, we’re being very specific about where these should go and how they should be built, and insuring that not now nor ever will we have what we’re seeing in northern Virginia,” says Fitzwater.
She noted that as long as people use their cell phones or laptops, there will always been a need for data centers.
Data centers are under construction at the former Eastalcoa site in Adamstown. Fitzwater had said the goal is to keep data centers on less than one percent of the land in Frederick County.
By Kevin McManus